


The Boy Who Almost Disappeared

by Rivulet027



Series: Lima Hellmouth [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Glee, Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Families of Choice, Fear, Friendship, Multi, Romance, Secrets, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-03-21
Updated: 2011-06-07
Packaged: 2017-10-17 04:43:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/173023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/pseuds/Rivulet027
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glee S2 AU, Before he was a principal Figgins taught at Sunnydale High. So when one of the new students, Blaine, starts to disappear he knows where to go to seek assistance. (WIP)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Glee, BTVS, AtS or QaF. None of these is my toy box and I’m merely playing. Also don't own the song by Mika. I also don't own anything to with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Skillet, Sandman, Marvel or DC.  
> Spoilers: Post series for BTVS, AtS and QaF. Post Britney/Brittany for Glee  
> A/N: This is intended to be the start of a series, which I have plotted several fics for. That being said I intend to put ‘The Rocky Horror Glee Show’ throughout several fics since it takes awhile to put a play together. At this point Molly Taylor is the only char I’ve pulled from QaF, which was done to have another slayer and to work in the background for Sam.

Figgins knew that there was more than one person at McKinley High who thought he was incompetent. He knew that no one understood his methods. He knew that no one understood he was protecting his life while watching out for his students.

None of them had taught at Sunnydale High when the mayor had turned into a demon and tried to eat them all.

Will still, occasionally, tried to convince him vampires weren’t real.

Figgins wasn’t stupid. He knew Tina wasn’t really a vampire. He’d checked with holy water. Still Lima had slowly growing overabundance of churches and he wasn’t taking chances. He avoided going out at night and always carried a stake.

There were odd things here and there, nastiness, but nothing he couldn’t overlook. Then one of the new students started to fade and Figgins knew it had gotten worse.

He did the only thing he could think of, he called Rupert Giles. This came with confirmation that Lima was like Sunnydale, only on a much smaller scale. Giles had thought it such a small scale that it shouldn’t have affected anyone to that degree.

Figgin was satisfied that Giles associates would have someone investigate until he walked out and realized Blaine was practically see-through. He greeted the young man, grateful when he appeared solid once again. Then he called Giles in a panic. Both principals he’d worked under in Sunnydale had been eaten.

All he could do was hope they’d send a slayer soon. In the meantime Figgins didn’t let himself relax. He called Blaine and Will into his office to inform the both of them that Blaine was now a part of New Directions. Blaine sank into his seat looking for all the world as if he actually wanted to disappear as William protested. Figgins refused to back down and once it was clear Blaine would attend he was allowed to leave.

“He said he refused to audition,” Will tried, “I can’t let him in if he can’t sing.”

“You can’t teach him to dance? To ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ in the background?” Figgins teased.

Will’s face said he wasn’t understanding the joke.

“I thought Mike Chang couldn’t sing, isn’t he a contributing member?”

Will frowned.

“As it stands,” Figgins continued, “you shouldn’t need to. If you get that young man to open up you’ll have another lead singer on your hands."

William was still unconvinced and Figgins could see him gearing up for another loud and hearty protest. For a moment Figgins had to wonder if Will had lost all his snark from arguing with Sue or if he’d never had any to begin with.

“Blaine was one of the lead singers for the Dalton Academy Warblers,” Figgins revealed as he turned his computer around and pressed play, “Consider this his audition.”

Figgins sat back smugly as he watched Will change his mind about Blaine.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Blaine hesitated outside the door. What could Figgin really do if he refused to join Glee? He took a deep breath. How could he go into a room full of music and pretend it wasn’t for him? Could he remain unnoticed? Was he that strong?

Blaine frowned at the floor, pushed the door open and slowly crossed from the hallway into the room. He paused once inside the room. Rachel was gesturing about a point as her whole body was into the conversation she was having with Finn. Mike was figuring out a dance and Tina was working on following, along with Mercedes and Kurt. Kurt was the only one who looked up at the opening door. Blaine’s breath caught. He’d seen Kurt in the halls, sat near him in one class, but had never had the other young man look directly at him. Kurt’s face was confused for a moment before he shrugged and went back to dancing with his friends.

Blaine hovered a moment longer, confused himself. Shouldn’t one of them have commented on a new member in their mists? Maybe going unnoticed would be easier than he’d originally thought.

He found a seat, dumping his bag at his feet as he watched, resisting the urge to join.

Blaine sat back in his seat and closed his eyes, listening as they began working on adding a song to Mike’s steps, even if they couldn’t agree on the song.

Then there was a weight in his lap and a shriek. Blaine’s eyes flew open to take in the Cheerio that had landed in his lap. Her eyes were large as she took him in. Her mouth opened and closed in astonishment.

“You weren’t there,” Brittany informed Blaine.

Blaine frowned, confused.

“You weren’t,” she told him again.

“Brit,” Santana reassured, “It’s okay you didn’t see the loser. He can move and we can have our seats.”

Brittany frowned, eyes taking him in slowly. Santana swore and grabbed Brittany, “We’ll find different seats.”

“But he really wasn’t there,” Brittany protested, her voice shaky.

Santana pulled Brittany into nearby seats as she wrapped comforting arms around her. Brittany peeked a glance at Blaine again.

Blaine sank against the seat.

“Hey,” Finn said, trying to get his attention, before he asked, “Where did you come from?”

Blaine looked up. They were all giving him confused looks. This was not the way to go unnoticed. Blaine stared down at his feet. Thankfully before anyone could ask another question Mr. Scheuster walked in and greeted all of them before moving to the white board.

“Mr. Shue!” Rachel called out, “We have a spy!”

Mr. Scheuster turned around, frowning as the last few members straggled in.

“Who is that?” Rachel asked as she pointed at Blaine.

Mr. Scheuster blinked, frowned at Blaine for a moment before he shook himself and said, “That’s Blaine Anderson. Figgins had him join.”

“He didn’t audition,” Quinn pointed out.

Blaine gripped the sides of his seat and closed his eyes tightly.

“He looks like he’s about to faint,” Kurt put in.

“Serious stage fright,” Mercedes agreed.

“Maybe he can dance?” Mike tried.

Blaine flinched at the sudden flare of voices all focused on him. He was almost thankful when Mr. Scheuster held up his hands and called, “Guys. Guys! Look, Figgins wanted him to join. He’s a bit shy at the moment, so maybe we can be nice and see if he warms up to us.”

There were more protests and Blaine wasn’t sure that the chair he was sitting on wouldn’t have permanent marks from where his fingers had dug into it so tightly. Eventually they settled, eventually it seemed they’d forgotten he was there.

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief when it was over, grabbed his bag and practically ran out the door. He was headed towards his car when he spotted a pair of familiar faces, familiar jackets and he froze once again.

“Wes, David,” he greeted as he dumped his bag into his car.

They both stared.

“What?”

“David’s car or yours?” Wes asked. It wasn’t long before cars were figured out and his friends had him settled in at a nearby coffee shop.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” David started, “We could’ve helped you look for scholarships.”

Blaine stared down at his coffee cup with a frown, “My parents didn’t tell me till near the end of the summer.”

“But you love it at Dalton,” Wes protested.

“And it’s expensive,” Blaine pointed out, “my parents need to downsize.”

“So we’re out a lead singer,” Wes frowned.

Blaine picked at his coffee cup, “Maybe I’m not good anymore.”

“What?” David exclaimed.

Blaine shrugged, “I haven’t sung anything since I switched schools. I feel like I’m on mute, but I can’t…and now they’ve practically forced me to join their glee club and I don’t know how I’m supposed to remain anonymous if I start singing. I can’t start singing.”

“Why would you want to be anonymous?” David asked.

“If I don’t get notice,” Blaine explained, “then I don’t get bullied.”

“You’re parents knew what torture your last school put you through,” Wes protested, “I can’t believe they’d send you to another when…when Dalton…”

Blaine frowned as Wes trailed off into a scowl.

“They figure I can keep my head low,” Blaine said, “It’s only two more years. As long as I don’t call attention to myself I should be fine.”

“That’s just…that’s…” Wes scowled.

Blaine shrugged, “My sister will start my senior year and any reputation I have could affect her.”

Wes and David exchanged a look.

“This is not happening,” Wes protested, “We need you in the Warblers.”

“We’re finding you scholarships,” David reassured, “We’ll have you back at Dalton before next semester.”

“I’d really like that,” Blaine said before he frowned, “But really guys, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Wes said, “This isn’t the Blaine we know.”

Blaine frowned.

“You look like you’re trying to disappear,” David pointed out.

“I think it would be easier if I did,” Blaine said quietly.

Wes and David exchanged another worried look.

“It just would,” Blaine reiterated.

“Why would you think that?” Wes asked.

“They _regularly_ throw kids in dumpsters there,” Blaine informed them, voice haunted.

“We’ll get you back at Dalton,” David promised.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Dawn Summers looked up as her slayer hovered near her desk. She took in Brittany, watched the girl shifting her feet. She set her pen down.

“Blaine Anderson,” Brittany told her.

“Who?” Dawn asked.

“He’s a student here,” Brittany continued, “and I sat on him.”

Brittany’s eyes were huge as if she was revealing a big secret and Dawn couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m sure he didn’t protest too much,” Dawn reassured.

“He wasn’t there,” Brittany tried to explain.

“What?”

“When I sat down he wasn’t there,” Brittany tried again, “He wasn’t there until I sat on him. It was like he was invisible or something.”

Dawn frowned, “What did you say his name was again?”

“Blaine Anderson.”

“Figgins called Giles about him,” Dawn said slowly, as that fact came back to her. She frowned at Brittany and then glanced at the paper she’s been about to grade. She stared, her heart sinking. The paper was Blaine’s and she hadn’t even noticed until Brittany mentioned him. This kid was in her US History class, she took attendance every day and yet she couldn’t remember that he existed.

“I don’t know if I can keep someone from disappearing,” Brittany whimpered, “I kept getting lost in the sewers. I couldn’t even handle a group hunts, how am I supposed to handle a whole hellmouth by myself?”

Dawn took in the fear on her slayer’s face.

“I don’t want to die,” Brittany told her.

“Brittany,” Dawn tried to reassure, “We’ll figure this out. I know there was another slayer asking to come here. Would you feel better working with another girl?”

Brittany nodded with a smile, “That’d be amazing!”

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Figgins took in the trio that had dropped by his office. He understood why the new transfer student was here, but why was his new history teacher and Brittany also here as well?

“Can I help you ladies?” he tried.

Ms. Summers smiled, “I wanted to reassure you that we’re handling things. Brittany is a Slayer and I’m her Watcher. Molly decided to join us so the school now has two.”

“Do we need two?” Figgins asked unable to keep the worry out of his tone as he looked Molly Taylor over once more.

“We’re not anticipating needing both of them,” Ms. Summers reassured, “but then we shouldn’t be seeing a boy disappear either. Molly mostly wanted to look out for her cousin.”

“You and Blaine are cousins?” Figgins asked.

“No,” Molly answered, “Sam Evans if my cousin.”


	2. Chapter 2

Molly frowned as she took in the hallway. She glanced over at Brittany, then back towards Figgins’ office, where he was still talking to her, their, Watcher. She turned back to Brittany when she realized the other girl was half twisted around her trying to look at her schedule.

“This is my first time in a public school,” she admitted as she held the schedule up.

Brittany blinked at her, “You’ve never been to school before?”

“Private schools before slaying school in Cleveland,” Molly reminded. She and Brittany had already had this discussion last summer.

“Oh yeah,” Brittany smiled as she began to take in Molly’s schedule again, “Maybe I should show you where your locker is?”

Molly agreed and then pointed out, “Keep an eye out for Blaine when classes let out. I’m going to need to know who he is if I’m going to help.”

Brittany frowned, then bit her lip, “Blaine, where are we going to find him?”

Brittany went up on her toes, looking around the empty hallways as if they might contain the answer.

“Figgins said he placed him in your glee club,” Molly reminded gently.

Brittany dropped off her toes and her eyes lit up, “I keep sitting on him! He’s cute.”

“Cute doesn’t help me identify him,” Molly told her.

“I can introduce you at glee,” Brittany smiled.

“Glee?”

“You can join,” Brittany nodded.

Molly frowned, “What would I have to do?”

“Sing silly.”

Molly forced a smiled. Brittany flashed her a real one in return.

“What about my cousin? How is he?”

“Sam,” Brittany mulled, “There’s a new Sam on the football team?”

Molly sighed, “Wouldn’t be my cousin. He’s kinda chubby, wears a lot of geeky shirts.”

Brittany frowned again.

“We’ll figure it out later,” Molly offered, “Locker first, keeping the amazing disappearing boy visible, later.”

~~~~*****~~~~~

Kurt tucked the outfit he’d worn to school inside the bag he kept for laundry in the back of his locker. He frowned, considering if he had enough time before his study period was over to check and see if the clothes needed to be rinsed out one more time. He glanced around as the halls just began to fill with students and decided against it. He checked his hair quickly before he started switching out his books.

He turned at the tap on his shoulder. He raised his eyebrows as he took in the girl standing before him. She had on gray dress pants, a white long sleeved shirt and a vest that matched her pants. A hat was pulled low over her blonde hair, but she had her head tilted as she regarded him and there was a strange kind of hope in her eyes.

She motioned for him to spin. He complied, not even sure why he was doing so until she broke into a grin, “Maybe this place isn’t the pit of despair I thought it was going to be.”

“Oh, it is,” he reassured.

She smirked, “Yes, but at least I might have found someone worth befriending.”

“You decided this after watching me turn?”

“How else would I decide?” she teased before she frowned at the schedule she had in her hand and glanced at the nearest door. He tilted his head so he could see her schedule before he gave her directions. She thanked him, then held out a hand, “Molly Taylor.”

He took it, shook and gave her his name. She grinned then promised to find him later as she turn to walk away.

“Do you sing?” he asked.

“Depends on who you talk to,” she smiled as she turned back towards him, “I haven’t quite decided yet.”

“This might not work,” he teased.

Before she could reply the new quarterback was standing close to her bouncing on his heels. Kurt tensed at the huge grin on the other boy’s face. He took a step closer to his locker, looking around as the jock in front of him wasn’t holding a cup. Molly frowned at him then turned around. She squealed and quickly had the blonde in a hug, “Sammy!”

“Hey Mols.”

Molly stood still a moment, taking him in and the other boy blushed before he was offering a hand, “I’m Sam.”

“Kurt,” Kurt answered as he took the hand. He looked between them.

“We’re cousins,” Sam explained, “she just transferred.”

“And already found someone who may have mini-Emmett potential,” Molly grinned before she did a quick circle of Sam, “What did you do to yourself?”

“Hey,” Sam frowned.

“No it’s good,” Molly said, “Except maybe the hair. You let my brother get a hold of it, didn’t you?”

Sam shrugged, “I wanted to look cool.”

“It looks like his,” Molly pointed out.

Sam shrugged, “But I make this look good.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, holding in his retort that the hair made him want to question Sam’s sexual orientation. He was also tempted to point out that he wasn’t a mini anything. Thankfully Mercedes walked up and offered a reprieve from the newer students he hadn’t quite decided on yet.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Sam settled into lunch opposite his cousin, it was a bit of a relief to be away from the normal football table. He never would’ve guess trying not to say too many geeky things would be exhausting. It also hurt how many times he’d bitten his tongue when another one of the guys made a homophobic comment. Justin would cross his mind every time and he’d want to say something, but then he’d remember the torment he’d received at his last school and he’d lapse into silence.

Also why was Molly here? Could being here be part of her superhero slayer gig?

“So, are you here for professional reasons?” he asked.

She smirked, “Should I be? Notice anything odd happening?”

Sam frowned as the thought about it a moment. The cheerleading coach was way harsher than she needed to be. Some of the teachers seemed a bit out of it. He’d seen a kid tossed into a dumpster the day before and no one seemed to notice. The kid even seemed surprised when he’d come over to help. The kid had actually acted like he was weird for offering to help, Sam hadn’t even gotten a name. The school kept a slushie machine even though he’d heard that they were usually purchased to torture other students with.

Molly laughed, “You’re thinking way too hard about this, things must look kinda normal.”

Sam shrugged.

Molly leaned in and lowered her voice, “You know that whole Cleveland on the Hellmouth thing I told you about?”

“Yeah?”

“Lima is too. Dawn hasn’t found the actual Hellmouth just yet, but it looks like it’s in the school.”

Sam’s eyes widened, “Dawn?”

“Ms. Summers, she teaches history.”

Sam nodded his understanding, “So they brought you in? Why was she here to start with?”

“There was already another slayer here. I don’t know if she’d want me to tell. They knew there was a Hellmouth, but they didn’t think it was very large or active, but one of the students is starting to disappear so going to try and prevent that and keep our eyes opened for anything else.”

“Who’s the student?” Sam asked, the concern obvious in his tone.

“Blaine Anderson,” Molly revealed as she sat back.

Sam frowned, “I don’t know who that is.”

“Don’t feel bad, Brittany couldn’t remember either and they have glee together.”

Brittany, that blonde ditsy cheerleader was the other slayer? Maybe there was more there than he’d thought. He smiled as Molly’s eyes widened and she realized she’d given Brittany away. He shrugged, “I can keep my mouth shut. So you’re going out for glee then?”

Molly shrugged.

“Wouldn’t that be the easiest way to figure out who he is?”

Molly frowned, then changed the subject, “What about you? How are you doing here?”

Sam shook his head, letting her know that even though he’d answer her question he wasn’t about to just drop the subject of glee, “Better, but mostly because nobody knows anything about me and I just sort of blend in.”

“Is that what you want?”

Sam shrugged, “No one’s tried to hurt me. I just try and keep the geeky stuff to myself and bite my tongue when I’d rather tell everyone off for being bigots.”

“Sam,” Molly complained.

Sam picked at a notebook he’d set on the table, “I’m not ready to talk about it yet. Not here, not now.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“We can get you into glee,” Sam reminded.

“Doesn’t that actually require knowing about singing?” Molly stressed.

“You sing.”

“I’ve only ever done back-up for shows at Woody’s.”

“So, that means you can sing.”

“That means I can be told ‘sing like this’ and am able to mimic really well,” Molly told him as she settled her chin into her hands, frowning, “I can’t actually read music.”

Sam mirrored her frowned, “I’d offer to help, but I’m just…”

“Don’t you dare call yourself stupid,” Molly glared.

Sam shrugged.

Molly raised an eyebrow, challenging, “How many languages do you know? Real and fantasy, geeky. I think 5?”

“Six,” Sam told her, “I picked up Na’vi as well.”

Molly smirked.

Sam held up his hands in mock defeat before he told her, “It shouldn’t be difficult to get you into glee. I don’t know when Finn heard me sing, I’m not sure I even want to know, but he hasn’t given up on trying to convince me to join.”

“You almost joined glee?” Molly grinned, “You can join with me.”

Sam picked at his notebook again, “No.”

“No?”

“I just sing every now and then for fun,” Sam shrugged, “Mostly to the radio or in the shower so I really don’t think I’d take it seriously. Besides no one’s harassing me yet and I’d kinda like to keep it that way.”

Molly frowned, “You’ve changed.”

“I had to,” Sam told her and then held up his hands when it seemed she was about to protest, “I’m willing to put that on the line to help get you in position to help this Blaine kid, but right now that’s all.”

Molly nodded and he could tell by the look of contemplation on her face that he’d have to explain more later, but for now he had to worry about singing and getting the glee clubs’ attention. Sam glanced around the cafeteria, he recognized a few of them. He looked back to Molly, trying to think of a song that they would both know.

Molly’s eyes widened, “Now?”

Sam nodded, better to do this now before either of them over thought it. He smirked as he decided on Mika’s ‘Blame it on the Girls,’ because it was fun and they both knew it. Molly started shaking her head, but before either of them could think of an excuse, a reason not to, Sam intoned, “So I was sitting there in the bar and this guy came up to me and he said, ‘my life stinks’ and I saw his gold credit card and I saw the way he was looking at people across the room and I looked at his face and you know he had a good looking face. I just said ‘dude, you’re perspective on life sucks'.”

Molly stopped shaking her head as he began drumming out the beat and then launched into the song. He noticed Kurt stop and turn when he sang, ‘He’s got a face to make you fall on your knees.’

Molly joined him on the chorus; just as several cheerleaders turned and stared with the line, ‘blame it on the girls who know what to do.’

Sam almost stumbled over the words when a boy who he could’ve sworn hadn’t been there before was suddenly just visible as they sang ‘blame it on the boys who keep hitting on you.’

He kept his eyes on Molly as she sang the next verse, then joined her on the chorus, knowing he’d just gotten her into glee when Finn’s girlfriend, Kurt and several others joined in. Molly kept singing even as she glanced at them then gave him a look that demanded, ‘do they always just start dancing like this?’

Sam shrugged, he really had no idea, but there was been this want to join them that he’d somehow managed to contain. He grinned as Kurt slide into the seat next to him and Finn’s girlfriend dropped down next to Molly introducing herself as Rachel. Mike he recognized from football and the girl he was with had to be Tina so who was the kid in the wheelchair? Sam glanced over at Rachel since she seemed to be ringleader in the whole get them to join deal, but she just kept going on about how great glee was. Sam glanced over at Kurt and gave him is best ‘what is this face’ before smiling and offering a hand, “Hi, I’m Sam. I already know you’re Kurt, that’s Mike and apparently that’s Rachel, but…”

“Rachel, introductions,” Kurt reminded all business with the hint of a smile.

Sam smiled back, Kurt looked so much nicer when he smiled. Sam frowned when Kurt’s smiled vanished and his eyes flashed with annoyance. Sam followed where Kurt’s line of sight had been and frowned at the taunting looks on Karofsky’s and Azimo’s faces.

“So is this your new girlfriend or your new boyfriend?” Karofsky asked as he reached out to poke Molly. Sam glared.

“Hands to yourself,” Santana said as she caught Karofsky’s hand and pushed it away before she and Brittany joined them.

“They’re like totally cousins,” Brittany informed the group as she settled herself into her seat.

“Yeah, well she looks like a…” Azimo started.

“I would’ve thought this kind of teasing would be beneath the guys with the biggest bromance I’ve ever seen,” Sam said as he cut them off. His heart was pounding in his chest, he didn’t want this year to turn into last year, but he’d been wanting to use that comeback for over a week.

“Bromance?” Azimo asked.

“What did he just call us?” Karofsky growled.

“He said that you’re like brothers,” Kurt informed them with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh,” Karofsky deflated while Azimo frowned.

“Can we not do this now?” Santana put in, “I’m trying to eat my lunch.”

Thankfully that seemed to be enough to get them to leave. Santana smirked as she sat up a little straighter.

“Are they joining yet?” Brittany asked.

“Not yet,” Rachel smiled, “but I’m working on it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Dawn reveals to Spike what happened to Blaine at his last school so warning for bullying and violence. It's not mentioned in graphic detail, but I don't want to offend anyone.

Dawn leaned back in her chair and looked around her empty classroom as she told Spike, “I don’t know how we’re going to do this. I went into that kid’s file and it’s a wonder he hasn’t already disappeared. He’s got to be so scared.”

“What’d you find?” Spike asked.

Dawn sat forward and let out a huff of air, took a deep breath and told him, “They broke his leg and then stuffed him in a dumpster. I wouldn’t want to be visible at public school if that’d happened to me.”

“You’ve faced worse than bullies,” Spike pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’m not a kid anymore,” Dawn countered.

“Technically…”

“We aren’t getting into that,” Dawn said cutting him off.

“Where are the dumpsters?” Spike asked.

“There is one that just sits out there by the main entrance,” Dawn said as she frowned.

“And do the kids…” Spike prompted and trailed off.

“I’ve been coming in the side entrance,” Dawn said, “Going to have to change that.”

“You need any back-up?”

“Thanks, no,” Dawn said, smiling at the concern she could hear in his voice, “Connor will be here in a few days and I’ve got two slayers to train so it should keep me busy.”

“Kay, but I’m not the one telling big sis you’re shacking up with your boyfriend,” Spike teased.

“We’re not shacking up!” Dawn protested, “and even if we were I’m supposedly twenty-four.”

“Supposedly,” Spike rolled the word back at her, before he laughed and asked, “You find this missing slayer yet?”

“No,” Dawn admitted glumly, “We figured we’d run into the girl, we haven’t been able to pinpoint yet, when we hit the graveyards, but Brittany and I haven’t found anything. Maybe we’ll be able to cover more ground with Molly here. Whoever it is, I’m pretty sure they’re giving into the urge to go out at night and slay. We found a half disposed of Polgara last night.”

“Polgara on their own with no training?” Spike asked.

“It’s worrisome,” Dawn said, “but every time I do the spell to find her it gets confused and doesn’t work. Whoever she is she must be trying to shield herself.”

“Maybe she isn’t on her own,” Spike suggested.

“Maybe,” Dawn admitted, “We’ll just have to keep looking while patrolling and then see if anyone’s tired during the day.”

“Sounds good,” Spike told her. They spoke a few more moments, caught up on Spike’s life on the Cleveland Hellmouth before they said their goodbyes.

Dawn sighed and set her cell down before running a hand through her hair. She stood up and stretched as she checked the time. Realizing that New Direction’s practice was nearly half over she made her way down to the choir room. She smiled as she realized she’d gotten her timing right.

“We should probably talk,” Dawn greeted as she regarded Brad.

Brad eyed her nervously, “I’m not hurting anyone.”

Dawn nodded as they moved away from the choir room, “I can see that, but you’re also not human.”

“I’m a balance demon,” Brad told her, “One that’s more musically inclined.”

Dawn tilted her head and regarded him, “And that’s why you’re always around to play piano for the kids?”

Brad paused, leaned against the wall and regarded her. He shook his head, “Ever get the urge to just start singing in the middle of the day?”

Dawn frowned, crossed her arms, “Somehow I don’t think you mean just for fun?”

“Ever see one of the kids walking down the hall singing as if they’re the star of their own music video?”

“Thankfully no,” Dawn answered, “But I also haven’t been part of a live-right-now-musical in years.”

“You’ve walked into one.”

“I’m not sure I’m following you,” Dawn frowned again.

“There’s another demon in the school,” Brad revealed, “But I haven’t been able to find it yet. It’s trying to burn the kids out through song and dance. I’ve been able to calm their routines, their songs and I haven’t lost anyone yet. Some of them have finally even stopped singing in the hallways.”

“We could try a location spell,” Dawn suggested.

“It’s set up too many wards,” Brad shook his head, “You can’t even do a location spell here or in half the town for that matter.”

Dawn’s eyes widened, “That’s why the ones I’ve been trying aren’t working.”

“What are you looking for?”

Dawn hesitated, “I’m not sure I trust you yet.”

Brad shrugged, “You’re the watcher.”

Dawn tilted her head.

“At least with the way the slayers seem to come to you, that makes sense.”

“You know which ones they are?” Dawn asked cautiously.

Brad frowned, “Not totally. Brittany and Molly are easy to pinpoint, but the third…sometimes I think its Tina, other times I know it’s not.”

“You can tell?”

Brad shrugged, “They feel slightly different, probably a way to let me know to avoid them.”

Dawn nodded, “Well you’re not hurting anyone, you’re actually helping from what I can tell. Brit did say you didn’t feel like the kinda demon she needs to slay, so as long as it stays that way we should be good.”

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief as Brittany kissed his cheek and then dropped out of his lap to go sit near Santana. He watched as the rest of the Glee club pulled Molly in, a few were asking questions about her song.

“It was the Hedwig version of Wicked Little Town,” Molly told Quinn, who merely looked confused.

Blaine frowned, Molly had done a good job with the song, but Brittany had kept singing a certain part of the chorus in his ear when Molly reached it.

 __

And if you’ve got no other choice  
You know you can follow my voice  
through the dark turns and noise  
of this wicked little town.

She had meant something by it, both girls had, but he had no idea what they were trying to tell him or the group. Blaine longed for Dalton, where he was out and he didn’t have girls possibly hitting on him. How was he supposed to politely turn down girls if he’d promised his parents he wouldn’t come out at school? How were they even noticing him? Nobody else in the school seemed to know he was there until he stepped through the door to glee club. It was disconcerting.

“I’m going to be Wonder Woman,” Santana announced, “And Brits is gonna be Supergirl.”

Blaine tilted his head and realized that they were talking about their costumes for their rendition of Skillet’s ‘Hero’ since it had been Artie and Finn’s idea to dress up as superheroes for the song.

“I wanna be Death from Sandman,” Tina announced before she ran a hand through Mike’s hair and suggested, “You could be Sandman.”

Mike hummed against her shoulder and opened his eyes, “I wanna be Hawkeye.”

“Hawkeye?” Puck asked.

“With the bow,” Mike explained before he yawned and closed his eyes again, “Let me know when we’re dancing again.”

Tina fussed, wrapping an arm around him. Puck rolled his eyes and announced, “I’m Batman.”

“Want me to be Catwoman?” Santana smirked.

“Heroes,” Puck reminded.

“Oh,” Brittany lit up, “You can be Batgirl! With the cowl and the red hair!”

Santana looked at Brittany, took in her smile and grinned, “Fine Batgirl for me, but who’s gonna be Wonder Woman?”

“I’ll take Wonder Woman,” Quinn spoke up.

“Cool,” Puck nodded, before he regarded Santana and Brittany, “Now we just need a Robin.”

Brittany grinned and clapped her hands, “My favorite lap can be Robin!”

Blaine suddenly found Brittany sitting in his lap again. He blinked, he’d only just gotten rid of her.

“Please?” she pouted, “Be Robin for us?”

“We don’t even know if he can sing,” Mercedes pointed out.

“Or dance,” Quinn put in.

“I’m not the best dancer,” Finn jumped in, “I’m sure Mike and Brittany could come up with something for him.”

“Good thinking,” Mr. Shue put in, “Teamwork.”

Finn grinned then turned to Rachel, “We’re gonna be a couple right?”

Rachel nodded, “Superhero couple sounds about right, though I’d like to be a Jewish superhero. Maybe we can try and look something up in the library.”

“I could ask Sam,” Molly spoke up.

“What?” Finn asked.

“I’ll text my cousin,” Molly explained as she pulled out her phone.

As she typed out a message Artie decided he was going to be Professor Xavier, “Though I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do the bald thing.”

“We could shave you?” Puck grinned.

“We’re not shaving him,” Kurt glared, “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got that part covered.”

Artie grinned at Kurt, “Awesome!”

“Sam says to try Kitty and Piotr,” Molly told Rachel.

“Who?” Finn asked.

“Colossus and Shadowcat,” Molly explained, “They’ve got the whole couples thing going on and Kitty’s Jewish.”

“Dude,” Puck frowned, “I thought Colossus was gay.”

“That’s in the Ultimate universe,” Artie corrected.

Puck nodded, still looking confused.

Molly tilted her head back to Kurt, “Apparently you’d make an awesome Alpha Flight version of Northstar.”

“Was that sentence supposed to make sense?” Kurt asked, tone snarky.

“Sam’s suggestion for a costume,” Molly explained.

Kurt arched an eyebrow, “Cedes and I are going to be Power Rangers. Tell him he should show up and be a superhero with us.”

Molly smiled and shook her head, “I’m trying. He’s not budging.”

“Too bad,” Kurt shrugged as he went back to discussion colors and team uniform options with Mercedes.

“I’m thinking pink,” Mercedes smiled.

Blaine looked back over when Brittany poked him. He took in her pout, “Robin? Please?”

“Okay,” he told her.

Why had everyone stopped talking?

“Dude,” Finn smiled, “You can talk.”

Blaine sank under the weight of their stares. He suddenly felt so much more solid.

“Finally,” Santana grumbled, “I was beginning to think he was just eye candy.”

Kurt reached out and flicked Santana’s back. Santana turned and glared at him. Kurt gave her a look. Santana pouted. Kurt rolled his eyes.

“Oh please,” Mercedes laughed, “We’ll get him out on stage and singing with us in no time.”

They wouldn’t. They couldn’t. If he started singing again, Blaine knew, then he wouldn’t want to stop. He’d go back to needing to sing every day, back to it being as easy as breathing. He’d go back to wanting solo’s, to wanting to be in the spotlight. He’d go back to feeling alive. He’d go back to having hope. He couldn’t, not when he’d seen how the other glee kids were treated, not when the fear of how he would be treated if he were noticed made the breath catch in his throat. He wasn’t that brave. He didn’t have courage. He’d rather disappear.

“I’m thinking Jubilee,” Molly distracted.

Thankfully the rest of the glee practice became devoted to how to make their costumes and before he knew it Blaine was able to make it to the safety of his room. He dumped his bag inside his door, locked his room and opened his closet. He pushed his clothes out of the way and pulled out his Dalton uniform. He frowned at it, ran his fingers over the fabric in longing.

He missed the safety. He missed how confident he used to feel.

Hiding the uniform back in his closet he pulled out his phone and called Wes. Jeff picked up laughing about how Wes was busy, “Who’s this?”

“Blaine,” he answered, confused. Hadn’t Jeff seen who was calling?

“Who?” Jeff asked confused.

“That’s not funny,” Blaine told him, not when he felt almost invisible, “Can I just talk to Wes?”

“Hey, Wes,” he heard Jeff ask, “You know a Blaine?”

“This a joke?” Wes asked as he finally came on the phone.

“Joke?” Blaine asked, feeling his heart sink. How could Wes not know who he was?

“Who is this?” Wes asked.

Blaine took a breath. Wes didn’t know him? Did that mean David didn’t know him either?

“If you’re just going to breath at me,” Wes warned, “I’m gonna hang up.”

“Nobody,” Blaine said.

“What?”

“It’s nobody,” Blaine answered as he closed his phone. He stared at it at moment, brushed at the tears that began their way down his cheeks. He opened his phone again, deleting the numbers of his Dalton friends as he forced himself to give up the hope of scholarships that would take him away from McKinley High.


	4. Chapter 4

Dawn had been hoping that her suspicions about the dumpster was wrong, but as she approached she saw several hockey players circling…Dawn’s eyes narrowed, that was Kurt Hummel. Her eyes widened as she realized he wasn’t even fighting them, just giving them this defiant look as he removed his jacket and set it on his bag. This was routine, expected, she realized.

“Oh fuck no!”

Dawn turned to take in the scowl on Noah Puckerman’s face.

“I thought you said you told them to leave him alone?” Artie questioned, before a slightly panicked look took over his face, “I’m going to be locked in a porta-potty by the end of the day, aren’t I?”

“I’m going to knock some heads in,” Noah growled, before he gave Artie a confused look, “Why are you talking to me?”

Artie rolled his eyes before he gave Noah an annoyed look and reminded, “We’re not just in glee together, but football teammates now.”

“Oh, yeah,” Noah acknowledged.

Dawn raised her eyebrows and both boys finally noticed her and tried to put on innocent faces, though she could see the concern on both their faces as they looked around her. Dawn spun on her heel and paused as she noticed the English teacher, Mr. Tate walk by the entire group and pause to actually greet them before he moved on. Dawn scowled. How had a teacher just walked away from this?

“Oh hell no!” a voice growled. Dawn turned in time to see Lauren Zizes dump her school books and bag and start heading for the dumpster.

Dawn realized she needed to intervene quickly. She moved towards the dumpster as she called out with force, “Mr. Hummel!”

The hockey player, Daniel Sarving, who’d had just started to grab Kurt under the armpits paused and looked at her with wide eyes. She approached at a rapid pace, face cold, trying not to breathe a sigh of relief when she passed a paused Lauren. She ignored the hockey players, kept her eyes on Kurt, because if she didn’t she’d chew them all out, which would only escalate the situation if the looks on Noah’s and Lauren’s faces had been any indication.  
Kurt gave her a curious look.

Dawn raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms as she lied, “I believe we agreed to meet in my classroom five minutes ago.”

Kurt frowned, glanced at the hockey players and then thankfully caught on, “I got caught up.”

“See that it doesn’t happen again,” Dawn pretended to scold, “Especially not when you’ve volunteered to work on an important project.”

The hockey players were exchanging glances, but clearly not willing to threaten a teacher. Kurt gathered his things and followed Dawn away. She waited until they were in her office before she looked at Kurt.

He glanced at her, face giving away nothing.

“That happen often?” she asked.

He shrugged.

Dawn frowned. She couldn’t help him if he wasn’t willing to talk to her.

“Look, I…”

“You what?” Kurt cut her off, “You’re new.”

“And I’m trying to understand what I just saw.”

She became even more worried when Kurt frowned at her, “How did you even notice? No one ever notices.”

Dawn raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, waiting.

Kurt continued to consider her and she watched as he closed himself off. She realized she wasn’t going to get answers, not until he learned to trust her.

“You’re new,” he told her with a small stressed smile, “You’ll…”

“While Brit and I were patrolling last night we think we saw the…Hi Kurt,” Molly stuttered to a stop halfway into the room.

Kurt raised his eyebrows, looked between the two of them and crossed his arms.

“Hi,” Molly squeaked.

“Hi,” Kurt answered, looked between the two of them again, then rolled his eyes, “I’ll be going now.”

Dawn wanted to try and get answers from him, but she couldn’t send Molly away. They both remained silent as Kurt gave them both a considering look before he closed the door behind him.

Dawn raised an eyebrow at Molly, “Secret identity fail?”

Molly shrugged sheepishly.

“The other slayer?”

“Brit and I think we saw her on patrol taking out some vamps, but when we went to help she ran away.”

“Did you get a good look at her?” Dawn asked.

Molly shook her head, “All we could really tell was that she’s tall and actually rather graceful.”

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Blaine leaned against his locker as he gathered his books for his first class. He frowned at the book in his hands and glanced at the mirror he had in his locker. He was still there, staring back at himself with a worried expression. So why hadn’t his mother seen him this morning?

She’d looked right through him. Everyone looked right through him. It was almost as though he didn’t exist or was invisible.

Blaine closed his eyes tightly. Maybe it was better this way? If no one noticed him then he wouldn’t get picked on. He wanted this. He…hadn’t counted on how lonely it felt to never be noticed. He was alone. His world felt muted, dull and sad in a way it’d never felt before.   
He…

“Hi Blaine!”

Startled Blaine turned and opened his eyes. He frowned at the boy standing near him, smiling, “Hi, Mike.”

Mike’s smile widened. Why was Mike even talking to him? The silence between them stretched. Blaine wet his lips. Had he actually forgotten how to talk to people? He used to be able to charm people.

“Was there something you needed?” he asked.

“For ‘Hero’ you’re going to be dancing with Santana and Puck. We were already planning on working out their part during our free period today so if you’re not busy…” Mike trailed off and gave him a questioning look.

“You guys are free third period too?” Blaine clarified, as he tried to think if he had any homework he needed to get done. No, he’d done it all the night before.

Mike nodded.

“Sounds good.”

“Meet us in the auditorium,” Mike smiled, before he patted Blaine on the shoulder and invited, “And our table could always use one more at lunch.”

Blaine watched him go unsure if he should feel hope or dread. He’d been noticed. He’d been seen. Why did that feel like such a miracle?

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Kurt left Dawn’s office with the distinct feeling that he’d missed something. He decided he was going to have to confront Molly about it later as he forced himself to square his shoulders and walk down the hall. The hockey players had been interrupted, they’d be looking for retribution. He was going to get slushied before the end of the day, he knew this. He ran a quick inventory of where he’d stashed extra clothes aside from the ones he always kept in his locker. He almost paused as he realized Thomas Grave was leaning near his locker. As retaliations went, he wasn’t a person Kurt expected to see, but maybe switching from soccer to football changed a jock.

“Ev,” Kurt greeted, as he opened his locker. He glanced over and frowned, “Why does everyone call you Ev?”

“Cause I look like Everett Thomas?”

Kurt gave him a sideways glance and a raised eyebrow to indicate he didn’t know who Everett Thomas was.

“He’s a comic book character and it’s better than them all calling me Synch.”

“So Ev or Thomas?” Kurt questioned.

“Ev’s fine,” he shrugged.

Kurt was tempted to point out that Eve was traditionally a girl’s name, but if Ev was fine with it than he wasn’t going to call him on it. Instead Kurt nodded and asked, “And why are you hovering over my locker?”

“I need some help.”

“You’re taking Spanish,” Kurt pointed out, “I only tutor French.”

“I need football help,” Ev clarified.

Kurt paused in the middle of switching out his books. Ev was the new kicker.

“Finn taught me,” Kurt said, before he pointed out, “And since he’s back on the team now…”

“Finn might have told you what to do, but you actually figured out what works,” Ev countered.

“What works for me,” Kurt told him, “might not work for you.”

“Please?” Ev asked, “We both have third free and Coach lets us use the field. We could try and if it works it works and if it doesn’t hey I still suck.”

“If you suck then why are you the kicker?”

Ev shrugged, “Cause I’m the only one that actually made it between the goal posts. I blame soccer, but the harder I practice the worse I’m doing.”

“So why football instead of soccer this year?” Kurt asked.

“My dad likes it better.”

“If you love soccer…” Kurt started.

“Figured that out after I got kicker,” Ev admitted, “Please Kurt. I’m part of the team whether I love soccer more or not and you could help me be a better teammate.”

Kurt gave the inside of his locker one more look before he said, “If you’re all waiting out there with slushies…”

Ev looked confused for a moment before he frowned, “Hey, I’ve never been mean to you.”

“Sarving got interrupted,” Kurt pointed out as he shut his locker, “So I need to be a little paranoid.”

“I don’t know if I’ll catch all of them, but I’ll try and keep the hockey team off your back.”  
Kurt nodded, “See you third period then.”

“I’ll get you practice gear,” Ev smiled.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Dave Karofsky stared down at the doodle he’d drawn on his paper. He glanced up at the board, saw they were still on question three and looked back down at the moon he’d absently drawn on his paper. He glanced at the third question on his paper then back up at the board before he started drawing clouds to obscure the moon. He paused in drawing the second cloud. He regarded the picture again, intent on scribbling it out when he heard Mr. Shue begin to explain question four. He hadn’t understood question four. He paused mid-scribble hoping not to call attention to himself, hoping Mr. Shue wouldn’t call on him to answer the question. Having to admit to the class he hadn’t understood would be humiliating.

“Blaine Anderson,” Mr. Shue decided.

Dave let out a yelp and fell out of his chair, hitting the floor hard, as a young man with dark hair was suddenly sitting next to him. He stared, startled as the rest of the class began to laugh. Mr. Shue turned from where he was writing the question on the board, “Problem Mr. Karofsky?”

Dave shook his head, still startled. He knew he should be upset at the laughter, but he was more struck at the slightly panicked look on Blaine’s face. He was more struck by the fact that the scent in the room hadn’t changed. Blaine has been there the whole time, he realized as he pushed himself up and back into his seat.

“No,” he answered simply.

Mr. Shue frowned and walked towards them. Dave winced. How was he supposed to explain that he hadn’t seen Blaine, that until he’d been called on Blaine had been invisible?

“There was a bee,” Blaine said, voice barely audible.

Mr. Shue paused, looking Dave over again, “Are you okay?”

“It’s gone now,” Dave replied, taking up the lie, grateful for once that everyone knew he was allergic. He guessed having them think he’d stumbled out of his chair instead of needing his epi-pen was a better alternative than having to try and explain being startled by Blaine’s appearance. How had Blaine done that? Dave waited till Mr. Shue had finished writing the question, till Blaine was at the board. to scribble out the doodle he’d been working on. He glanced over and took in the Blaine’s book spread out on his desk, the bag leaning against his chair. Dave glanced back up at Blaine and for the first time in a long time felt himself relax. He already knew, thanks to Kurt, that he wasn’t the only gay kid at McKinley, but now looking at Blaine he wondered if was no longer alone in being a freak either.


End file.
